Schlumberger Launches Reservoir Mapping Service GeoSphere

Schlumberger has announced the introduction of the GeoSphere reservoir mapping-while-drilling service.

The new technology reveals features in subsurface beddings and fluid contacts at the reservoir scale to optimize well landing operations, steering capabilities and mapping of multiple boundaries using new deep-directional resistivity measurements enabled by proprietary real-time interpretation techniques.

“With GeoSphere technology, Schlumberger is introducing the first-ever reservoir mapping-while-drilling service that enables customers to map their reservoirs using unprecedented depth of investigation measurements around the wellbore combined with a novel mathematical inversion methodology,” said Steve Kaufmann, president, Drilling & Measurements, Schlumberger.

“This long-awaited technology milestone commercialization now enables asset teams to seamlessly integrate the data provided by the reservoir mapping-while-drilling service with other downhole measurements to optimize production and reservoir management.”

With a deep range of investigation that extends more than 100 ft from the wellbore, drilling teams can use the GeoSphere service to reduce drilling risk and accurately land wells, resulting in the elimination of pilot holes. In addition, the real-time reservoir mapping-while-drilling service enables the positioning of wells within target reservoirs, away from fluid boundaries, leading to increased reservoir exposure as well as allowing geoscientists to refine their seismic interpretation and geological and structural models.

The GeoSphere service has been tested in more than 140 wells worldwide, including locations in North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Russia and Australia.

In the North Sea, a customer used the GeoSphere service to successfully land a well and detect the top of the reservoir target from a distance of nearly 50 ft, allowing for optimization of the drilling plan before the formation was drilled. With the drill bit over 300 ft away from the target reservoir, the mapping-while-drilling technology confirmed that there was considerable distance for adjusting the trajectory if needed, to optimize reservoir entry.

Offshore Brazil, a customer deployed GeoSphere technology to accurately map multiple deepwater-well reservoir sections. The reservoir mapping-while-drilling service was used to guide well steering decisions, which enabled the customer to improve the drain position, avoid unplanned exits from target reservoirs, and to acquire reservoir knowledge to optimize production.

In Northern Europe, a customer used the GeoSphere service to double the reservoir net-to-gross ratio from 0.45 to 0.96 on two horizontal wells with complex geologies. The increased exposure in this thin bed discontinuous reservoir, compared to all previous wells in the field, resulted in a production improvement in both wells of more than 8,000 additional bbl/day.